"Realm Sword Skill..."

[Spatial Tear]

[Pause]

Gray paused the air, in front of him, creating a four by four rectangle of unmovable air.

*Swing*

Realm swung his katana.

[Pause Step]

*VOOOOOOM!*

And the space was distorted.

With widened eyes, Gray found himself staring at the spot where he had been standing along with the air which had been paused. A line could be seen on the ground itself as it had split completely in half. The line extended over to the prison that Gray was standing in front of.

The air shield he had created was completely useless, as the move had seemingly slashed through it.

'He slashed through the barrier of pause air?!'

*Crash!*

It was evident that many tiles of the building had fallen to the ground, as a large line could be seen across it.

Gray was left speechless. It looked like an ordinary fast swing, so how? How did it produce such a result? Had he not paused stepped away, would he have really been standing as of now?

Seeing as how he was just a single step away from death. Gray knew he couldn't let the man use the move again.

Taking a deep breath, Realm sheathed his sword again before leaning in.

"Realm sword skill-"

[Pause step]

The conversation was cut short during its middle when Gray suddenly appeared above him, swinging simultaneously both knives down at his head, forming a cross as he did so.

*Swish!*

Realm leapt back, watching as the swing Grazed him. Despite having nearly lost his life just now, he did not pause for a single second, as the top of his sheath and tilt continued to compress on its own.

The moment Realm even had a chance to think, Gray took off after him, instantly leaping off of a platform they had created out of air.

He thrust his knife forward, almost piercing through Realm, who only just managed to avoid once more as he leaped into the air.

[Realm: Compression]

As if he were a firefly, Gray once again canceled his momentum mid-flight and changed directions in the air, leaping up at Realm who at this point was in the air.

There was no platform for him to stand on, and there was no way for him to dodge.

Furthermore, he couldn't use his sword at that distance as Gray would simply pause it when he reached him.

Due to the lack of an alternative, he expanded the field, quickly vanishing as Gray slashed at him.

When Gray looked up, he expected Realm to have teleported above him, but instead he was suddenly grabbed by Realm and thrown down into the ground.

[Pause]

Gray caught himself in the air just before crashing, pausing his figure to cancel out the impact. His eyes opened wide however, as he could see Realm falling down from even further above with a swing in motion.

[Pause!]

It was too far to take effect.

[Realm: Compression!]

It was in that moment that the field suddenly compressed, and Realm swung his blade all at once. The release this time was much faster than the last.

[Spatial Tear]

[Pause Step]

*VOOOM!*

As the sound of a vacuum scraped away at the air, the spaces began to distort once again. In the place where Gray's figure once stood, tremors could be seen as a result of an earthquake that caused the ground to shake a little.

Attempting to locate Gray, Realm's eyes scanned left to right and up to down, but the young man was nowhere to be found.

'Behind?!' He deduced.

The feeling of a chill running down his spine caused him to immediately spin his body as he swung his sword in motion. Then he let go of the sword mid-air, as he vividly recalled Gray's ability.

When he had completed his spin, he could see it, Gray heading right at him with enormous speed while he was holding his knives out in front of him. It was only a matter of inches to Gray, and he had just used compression, so he did not have time to expand and teleport away.

He could create a force field, but just how much energy did he have left? Realm consumed way too much stamina to just keep active. The same was true for Gray, who, after using pause steps all those times, was out of breath.

Due to this, the two decided to move forward with their plans. This was the final moment.

[Realm: Compression]

One more time the field contracted, but this time instead of compressing his tilt it compressed his fist. It was the first time he was doing this, so he didn't have a name for it but it didn't matter. He steeled himself, to get pierced whilst swinging his fist with all his power right at Gray's face.

He was left with nothing but astonishment however, when rather than piercing him, Gray tossed his knives aside right at the last moment, before going in for an upper cut.

*BAAAAAM!*

As their blows reverberated throughout the area, Gray, who had already been punched on the side of his face by Realm's fist, suddenly rushed toward the nearby prison building, crashing through the wall as he did so.

In the meantime, Realm could be seen frozen in the air with his head bent back and his chin raised. He had been struck by the uppercut.

The world around him was spinning, he felt disoriented, but he had heard and felt it clearly. A clean connection.

'Did I win?' He wondered, his mind still fuzzy. 'Why am I still floating?' He questioned.

It only dawned on him once he realized he was still floating, frozen in midair. This wasn't over yet.

Being unable to turn his head, he could only hear the sound of tiles scuffling.

Then... he saw it through the corner of his eye. Gray's figure emerge out from the broken hole in the wall. Stumbling towards Realm he turned his head down.

Realm, couldn't believe it. Even if he had held back a little on the last punch, that was still a clean connection. He crashed into the wall even So how?

'How is he still standing!?'

*Swoosh*

Out of nowhere, Gray appeared before Realm, and his arm was drawn back as a bloody smile could be seen on his face.

*WHAM!*

Gray swung his fist with all the force he had, crashing it in the middle of Realm's handsome face. Caving it in. He proceeded to unleash a barrage of punches, one after another, without a shred of mercy as he stood on a platform, beside him.

Putting all of his strength into each swing, he did not hold back.

There are 2 seconds left until the pause expires.

Gritting his teeth, Gray raised both arms in the air before slamming them into Realm's chest. That was his final hit.

A breeze blew by as he panted heavily. "Unpause."

At that moment, only one word came to Realm's mind.

"I'm fucked-"

*BAM!*

His head cocked back, his face swayed from the pressure of the wind.

*BABABABBABABABBABAM!*

He suddenly felt wind pressure as his arm, leg, face, and all of those areas were suddenly hit at the same time. As he plunged towards the ground, the blows hit him at speeds comparable to a machine gun. Each punch hit like a truck.

Finally, just as he was above the ground.

*WHAM!*

A final blow, as air burst through his chest as he crashed down into the ground.

*CRASH!*

The sound resounded just as loudly as the previous punch, Realm's eyes were shut as he laid there motionless. He was knocked out.